Sling TV is slicing up the traditional pay bundle, offering mini-subscriptions by the day, weekend or full week starting at $4.99.
Timed with next week’s start of season, with the NFL soon to follow, the launch addresses an ongoing pain point for sports fans. Rather than forcing customers to sign up for a regular Sling subscription, which starts at $45.99 a month (with half off upon sign-up), the company is offering a way to hop on and off for big games, tournaments or series. Beyond sports, it also could have applications for award shows like the Oscars or other entertainment or news programming.
Access for a single 24-hour period (the Day Pass) costs $4.99, with the Weekend Pass priced at $9.99 and access for a 7-day week at $14.99.
One significant caveat about EchoStar-owned Sling (the streaming cousin of satellite TV provider Dish Network) is that it does not currently offer CBS stations. Anyone looking for a sporting event on the network would need to secure a premium add-on via Paramount+.
Seth Van Sickel, SVP, Product and Operations at Sling TV, said in an interview with Deadline that programming partners were briefed about the company’s plans for the short-term subscriptions. As far as disclosing subscriber numbers, which the publicly traded EchoStar does each quarter, Van Sickel said the company would “report accordingly” as far as the financials. He didn’t address specifics about whether one-day subscriptions would be added to traditionally open-ended general tallies. As of the June 30 end of the second quarter, Dish and Sling together had 7.1 million subscribers.
The initiative is the latest jab at the status quo by the company, though the TV component of EchoStar has diminished amid a broader pivot to wireless. About a decade ago, the company launched the Hopper, a DVR that automatically skipped ads, to the delight of many customers but to the consternation of broadcast networks. Multiple media companies sued over the technology, resulting in a settlement in 2016.
Charlie Ergen, who co-founded Dish and is chairman of EchoStar’s board of directors, was known for his pugnacious and erratic approach to negotiating carriage deals when he directly oversaw Dish as CEO. The CBS outage stemmed from that, and prominent networks like HBO and Univision have gone dark for long periods, some of them permanently, as Dish drew a firm line with programmers.
The mini-plans come as overall pay-TV penetration has retreated to 1980s levels as millions in the U.S. continue to cut the cord. Sports programming continues to anchor the bundle. Increasingly, though, major rights have been spreading to other platforms, with YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Roku all locking up top-tier rights in recent years. Dish rival DirecTV recently created genre-specific packages, including one that is expressly geared toward sports, but that plan goes for $70 a month.
“This launch is about putting control back in the hands of the fans,” Van Sickel said, and the programming is available “without having to sign a long-term, binding contract.”
Along with the launch of Day Pass, subscribers can also add Sling Extras, add-on channel packages, allowing customization by category. Current Sling Extra packages include, Sports Extra, News Extra, Entertainment Extra, Hollywood Extra, Lifestyle Extra, Heartland Extra and Kids Extra. Fans can add Sling Extras to their passes for $1 on a Day Pass, $2 for a weekend and $3 for a week.
